Blue Eyed Birder: Lesvos for Oriole Birding 26th April

26^thApril:

The crew arrived on both the Stansted and Manchester flights and with a delay to the latter as usual there was a little time to watch the sea from the beach just up the road. This gave the southern contingent both Yelkouan and Scopoli’s Shearwaters, Mediterranean Shags and even an immature Dalmatian Pelican heading along the coast! Not a bad start. Eastern Olivaceous and Sardinian Warblers chattered from the Giant Reed and over the ridge we picked up Black Storks, Common Buzzards and a Sparrowhawk.

Once the whole gang had assembled we headed through town and across the island to Skala Kallonis (ignoring the fact that a Lesser Flamingo was on the Poly Pans) passing some Alpine Swifts around the quarries and amazingly four Dalmatian Pelicans coming in to land on the saltpan channel!

Time to check in at the Pela and have a rest and a drink but even that was disrupted by 31 Night Herons descending from the blue sky towards the Hidden Pool behind the Pasiphae. We began down at the Tsiknias passing a male Red-backed Shrike on the way and then collecting wonderful Bee-eaters and even a showy Eastern Olivaceous Warbler before retracing our steps as the river bank was, in my humble opinion still far too dangerous to take a van along.

Night Herons

Bee-eater

Tsiknias

We cut down to the Kalloni Salt Pans (KSP) where the first stop at Stilt Corner gave us a flock of 12 bouncing White-winged Black Terns with three dipping Little Gulls while two Temminck’s Stints were grovelling along the channel margin where Stilts, Ruff and Wood Sandpipers fed. A Zitting Cisticola was doing what they do best and three confusing flava Wagtails were seen before we moved on to the Alykes Wetlands.

Black-winged Stilt and Wood Sandpiper - Jim Willett

Black-winged Stilt - Jim Willett

Greater Flamingo - Jim Willett

It was simply magnificent and although I have seen it as wet in some springs, it has not been this covered in birdlife for at least ten years or more. The evening light was challenging but no one cared when there were 13 Black Storks, three Purple Heron, 14 Squaccos and 12 Glossy Ibis amongst commoner herony things while 20 Collared Pratincoles hawked with Common, Gull-billed and Little Terns.

Squacco

incoming immature Black Stork - Grey and Purple heron heads behind

Black Storks making Grey herons look tiny

There were some very large flocks of Wood Sandpipers and Ruff with a few Little Stints amongst them. A single Common Snipe was along the back edge but soon snuck back in. Four Marsh Sandpipers tiptoed amongst them and eight flighty Garganey and four Ruddy Shelduck represented the wildfowl – and breath.

Wood Sandpiper - Jim Willett

With time getting on we drove to the Alykes Sheepfields for a quick look avoiding road running Crested Larks on the way and picked up four distant snoozing Dalmatian Pelicans, 16 more Ruddy Shelduck and a selection of Terns that added four Sandwich and three giant Caspians to the quickly growing list.

Dinner beckoned and a Scops Owl started up as we called it a night.

27^th April:

A morning of priorities. The adult Lesser Flamingo beckoned us around the bay to the Poly Pans but I was heading that way anyway as I had a Kruper’s Nuthatch nest to check out as well and I suspected it would not be too long before they fledged.

I was expecting to have to search the pans for the little pink one but we arrived and there he was on the first pan with Greater ‘mingos. We were the only crew there and had fabulous views of him as he stuck close to his Greater buddy. Such an amazing colour with almost red stripes on the front and an aubergine for a bill.

Lesser Flamingo - Jim Willett

Greater Flamingo - Jim Willett

Lesser & Greater Flamingo

Greater Flamingo

Lesser Flamingo

Lesser Flamingo - a global tick for me

The rest of the pans were very quiet and with a quick look at our first Short-toed Eagle before looping back up to Mikri Limni where a pair of Kruper’s Nuthatches were watched from a good distance as they fed some very hungry youngsters. Violet Limadores poked through the pine needles and there were Chaffinches, Coal Tits, Short-toed Treecreepers moving around. Woodchats were in the clearing. We did not stay long and soon headed on our way.

Kruper’s Nuthatch

Spotted Rock Rose - Tuberaria guttata

Ornithogalum umbellatum

Violet Limodore

Our first picnic lunch was taken at Achladeri where we were joined by an invisible singing Masked Shrike and several jingly Serins. Heading back towards Kalloni, I diverted into town and popped in to have a look for the Scops Owls. At least one was randomly singing but pinning them down was very tricky and it took almost half hour to do so but we got there in the end and got stared at for a while!

A short stop at the Pela and then off to Metochi. We almost made it to the lake but got distracted but a particularly good olive grove gave us Middle Spotted Woodpeckers, Masked Shrikes, Sombre Tit, Eastern Oli and Orphean Warblers, a flock of Turtle Doves and a singing Hoopoe. No one quite knew where to look.

The lake itself was quiet as you would expect for late afternoon but we still found two female Little Crakes, Moorhens and a brood of Ruddy Shelducks. The skies gave us Long-legged and Common Buzzard and a Peregrine before we moved on.

We ended round in Potamia and gave the ancient olives a go and I was pleased to hear an Olive Tree Warbler singing close by. Seeing one would have to wait. There were Masked, Red-backed and Woodchats and Crag Martins and Red-rumped Swallows flicked around the cliffs where the Western Rock Nuthatches were feeding young in the same nest as last year.

Licebane - Staphisagria macrosperma - new plant for me

And likewise this beast appears to be a Migratory Locust (Locusta migratoria) which I have not seen here before

A Roller had been reported along the road coming in but I was not expecting to actually refind it as we drove back out. It stayed long enough to get the scope on it but was all too soon bounding off over the groves. It was a great way to end the first full day.

28^th April:

Some awesome Pallid Swifts joined us for breakfast – no bins needed to see all the salient features. A great learning experience. West was the order of the day and I manged to get us to Agra without getting distracted by roadside birds. It was perfectly still at my chosen spot and the sun was illuminating the escarpment and bird song drifted down from even the highest points. Assessing where the bird was, was the tricky part.

One by one the targets fell and we got exceptional views of Cinereous and Cretzschmar’s Buntings, Rock Sparrows, Rock Nuthatches and displaying Blue Rock Thrushes – note the rock theme. A Hoopoe sung below us and a Middle Spotted Woodpecker flew from the oaks to a telegraph pole. Up above us all three Swifts were seen and a dark Eleonora’s Falcon cruised through with barely a beat of its wings. There were two Short-toed Eagles and one perched up for us. There was no haze and you could see the yellow eyes.

Short-toed Eagle

Before too long we hit the Eresos track in the understanding that we would have to turn round at the Meladia Chapel as the track from there on was undriveable. As it was the road crews were hard at work and by the time we reached the ford, cars were coming the other way allowing us to enjoy the full experience.

We did very well given that it was a warm and sunny day and collected a very respectable 52 Red-backed Shrikes, three Masked, two Lesser Grey and ten Woodchats along with a fine selection of chats. Isabelline, Northern and Eastern Black-eared Wheatears were breeding as well as Stonechats in an array of guises and quite a few migrant Whinchats.

Isabelline Wheatear

Red-backed Shrike

Woodchat Shrike - Jim Willett

Eastern Black-erred Wheatear - Jim Willett

Red-backed Shrike - Jim Willett

Lesser Grey Shrike - Jim Willett

Buntings were singings all around with the expected Cinereous, Corn, Cirl and Cretzschmar’s but it was good to find that the first Black-headed Buntings were already in and singing from traditional perches.

Cirl Bunting - Jim Willett

One little Pear Tree (before the fabled trio in the valley bottom) gave us a selection of Flycatchers with Collared, Pied and Spotted along with Common Redstarts, Eastern Orphean, Subalpine and Olivaceous, Sardinian and Willow Warbler, both Whitethroats and Blackcap between there and the little farmstead where the Rock and House Sparrows live with the Rock Nuthatches. Great Reed Warblers sung from thorny patches and two Golden Orioles exploded out of one of the bigger Pear Trees. A beautiful Wood Warbler and some more Flycatchers were in the chapel

Collared Flycatcher

Wood Warrbler

An unusually heavily streaked Red-rumped Swallow

Red-rumped Swallow

Crested Larks and Woodlarks were singing and Bee-eaters moved over us where Eleonora’s Falcons, 15 Lesser Kestrels, Short-toed Eagles, Long-legged Buzzards and Marsh Harriers were seen along the ridges with the local Ravens. A Purple Heron lumbered up from the riverbed where several Little Egrets and Ruddy Shelduck were feeding.

Crested Lark - Jim Willett

I was pleased that the crew got to see some of my favourite island views as you look offshore on the last run into Sigri. The sea was particularly blue.

A juvenile Laughing Dove was feeding with Collared Doves in the road as we started the drive down to Faneromeni and after a quick look at the beach pool where there were no Wagtails but hundreds of Yelkouan Shearwaters wheeling offshore, I took us to the Upper Ford where three Citrine Wagtails were tiptoeing around the streambed. This was the first multiple sightings I have had on the island.

A male Little Bittern was lurking under the reeds until I got it in the scope at which point it simply vanished and many Flycatchers were flicking back and forth along with Great Reed Warblers and Nightingales. A Golden Oriole was singing and a quick pop back to the beach pool failed to give is any Scopoli’s but the fourth Citrine Wagtail was briefly seen before zooming off again! Black-headed Buntings were actively feeding in the fields having just arrived.

Black-headed Bunting

I came back on the quicker inland road hearing Eastern Bonelli’s Warblers as we came through Lardia.

29^th April:

Breakfast was once again a Pallid Swift v Common Swift lesson before we went north and over the top. The Kalloni Raptor Watchpoint was disappointing with just a few secretive Sylvias and a Cretzschmar’s Bunting. Ravens and Short-toed Eagles where the only big sky birds.

Kalloni Raptor Watchpoint

On to Kavaki because I still love the view and you never know what might appear. Eastern Black-eared Wheatears fizzed and whistled and a Blue Rock Thrush displayed while Peregrine and Hobby went through. Turtle Doves purred and Sardinian and Subalpine Warblers sung below us.

Kavaki

Up to a scorchingly hot Perasma which surprisingly had water in it despite not being fixed. We had an excellent walk along the road surrounded by flowers but very few butterflies and although the Great Spotted Cuckoos did not show we did find both singing Reed and Marsh Warblers (invisible for both) and at long last a Cirl Bunting that actually sat up for everyone to see.

Looking over Persama to Mithymna and its castle

A Barred Warbler started singing and a brief view was had a this smart male before we found an immature bird feeding in a tree further back in the company of Whitethroat, Subalpine, Blackcap and a couple of bouncy Sombre Tits. Golden Orioles wheela weeloooed, Hoopoes poooped and Bee-eaters pruuuked. Six Red-backed Shrikes were dotted about and Alpine Swifts were dropping down to drink but other than Short-toed Eagles the only raptor was a silvery winged male Red-footed Falcon that drifted high and north.

Cirl Bunting - Jim Willett

Red-backed Shrike - Jim Willett

Roman Nettle - Urtica pilulifera - safely behind barbed wire

Whole-leaved Scabious - Knautia integrifolia

It was too hot to have lunch there so I headed along the upper coast road adding Robin, Wren and Grey Wagtail along with Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler to the heard list before stopping at the Argenos bandstands for a sheltered lunch with that epic view across to Turkey.

Lunch with a view of Turkey

It would have been rude not to drop down to Skala Sikamineas for a chill out session with a Kavos icecream while watching the gentle lapping of the sea against the boats and beach.

Skala Sikamineas

The iconic view

Ice-cream time

I let them off the leash and they visited the little chapel

Where they found a Striped Hawkmoth!

The route back brought us down to Napi where I randomly stopped for a short break. Almost immediately I heard not one but two male Barred Warblers in full song and with a bit of patience most of us got some views although they were somewhat furtive. Amazingly a third bird was calling in the bushes across the track.

Interestingly a male Red-backed Shrike was within the same bushes and both sometimes sung at the same time and I know that in eastern Europe they are a known species pair often being found breeding together. A Hoopoe monotonously sung and drifting Black Stork and another male Red-footed Falcon hinted at further northbound movement.

Black Stork

It was logical to head down onto the Alykes once again. If anything it was even better than that first frantic evening visit and we know had the time to sit back and soak it up. Glossy Ibis were now up to 25 and four Spoonbills were with the 12 Black Storks, 30 Grey Herons and 13 Squacco all jammed in the sedgy corner were an aquatic banquet was waiting. Purple Heron heads poked snakily out of the grasses while a Bittern was a little too chunky to properly pull it off – always a good bird to see on Lesvos.

Glossy Ibis and waders

Spoonbills joining the storks and heron today

Corn Bunting singing from a salt lorry where a pair of Spanish Sparrows had made their nest in the folds of the trailer cover

Corn Bunting

The Ruff flock was now at least 700 strong with a good number of Little Stints and Curlew Sandpiper with them and I heard a Spotted Redshank call. Two Black-tailed Godwits were a good find and one of the Marsh Sandpipers with a wafty leg was seen well. There were many more Ruddy Shelduck this time but only four Garganey but it was the male Common Pochard that was attracting the most attention. It is a scarce bird in the winter, let alone in the spring. The American contingent on the island were particularly keen to connect with it! Nine Gull-billed Terns came in to join the 19 White-winged Black Terns which included a winter plumaged immature bird and two calling Collared Pratincoles above us soon joined in the aerial insect catching over the pools.

White-winged Black Terns

Black Stork - Jim Willett

Red-throated Pipits had not even been heard up until this point but the first bird we heard obligingly came down on the closest damp pool and was one of two that that then showed exceptionally well – big smiles. A male Black-headed Wagtail joined the Pipit party.

Time was once again slipping away and a final scan for errant Harriers did at least give us a Long-legged Buzzard sat up on a bush much to the consternation of the Hooded Crows.

30^th April:

Our only proper early start of the week saw us heading down to Metochi prior to dawn passing the Pasiphae Night Herons heading back in having had a hard night out of town.

The lake was everything you could hope it to be – flat calm, no wind, mist rising and slowly appearing sunlight illuminating the already orange lemon-shaped Squaccos. Little Crakes crept openly along the edges and we found five females and two slaty males. Sometimes they clambered high up into the reeds.

Ruddy Shelduck and one fluffy in the mist

Squacco

Little Crakes

Little Crake - Jim Willett

Little Bittern - Jim Willett

Unlike our first walk here there were now many vociferous Great Reed Warblers along with Sedge and Olivaceous Warblers.

There were now more Black-headed Buntings in and they could be heard singing in the farmland where we also found Woodchats and Masked Shrikes and an obliging Hoopoe singing from a snag.

As we bumped back for breakfast a Chukar walked out in front of us and ambled up and down the track in front of us in that stupid confused partridge manner. A real bonus and although we could not get out everyone got excellent views. It was a happy breakfast.

Afterwards we made our way back down to the Alykes where the light was fantastic. It was a repeat of the previous evening with the same selection of waders and herons and amongst the 13 White-winged Black Terns there was our first adult Whiskered Tern.

Fourteen Little Gulls dipped between the pools and pans and two Med Gulls – an adult and 2cy flew distantly along the beach. Two drake Garganey were seen snoozing and having got excellent views of two Red-throated Pipits, we were suddenly confronted by a flock of 12 more that got spooked by a landing Black Stork.

Glossy Ibis

Crested Lark

Red-throated Pipit

Red-throated Pipit

Red-throated Pipit

Down at the Alykes Sheepfields I played a hunch and checked the nearest area of beach where a male Rufous-tailed Scrub-Robin flew right past us within the first few yards and posed very well in the Tamarisks before happily feeding around the bases whilst indulging in a little song. The scope views were excellent and we had no need to approach any closer and soon left. Down at the end we added circling, twittering Short-toed Larks, Olivaceous Warblers and Zitting Cisticolas and four Dalmatian Pelicans were feeding out the Bay and following the Cormorants that were feeding out there near the little blue and white fishing boats.

Dalmatian Pelican

Spanish Sparrow - one of the smartest birds out there

Spanish Sparrow - I think the females are very distinctive too

Eastern Olivaceous Warbler - Jim Willett

A stop on the way back for lunch at the Pela gave us one of the adult Long-eared Owls standing sentry over two inquisitive fluff ball youngster that were still in their nest.

Long-eared Owl

Long-eared Owl - one of the chicks the following day - Jim Willett

A relaxed break and then up into the hills to Agriosikos. I drove down to the farm and parked in eth shade so that we could walk the next section to beyond the Mulberry grove. It was superb and the Eastern Bonelli’s Warblers were actively singing with at least 12 heard btu unlike previous years where actually seeing them was difficult, this time that came out in the open and performed and at one stage the group was watching males in either side of the path!

Trying to find a Robin!

Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler

Robins and Wrens sung out of view and back near the start of the track there were Woodlarks on the wires and Eastern Subalpine Warblers performed their erratic display flights. As we walked back to the van a hefty 2cy female Goshawk barrelled through in front of us – always a special bird.

Forked Catchfly - Silene dichotoma

Red Hawk's-beard - Crepis rubra

Musk Thistle - Carduus nutans

Meadow Saxifrage - Saxifraga granulata

Hairy Broomrape - Orobanche pubescens

Cretan Catchfly - Silene cretica

Cornflower - Centaurea cyanus

Broadleaf Glandweed - Parentucellia latifolia

Blue Lupin - Lupinus angustifolius

Black-eyed Vetch - Vicia melanops

Violet Carpenter Bee

Masked Shrike

Green Underside Blue - this was the only place we saw a good selection of butterflies on this trip with Eastern Festoons, Orange Tips, Nettle and Meadow Browns

Back near the main road we stopped again and joined others for a sky watch. It was very productive with a female Eurasian Sparrowhawk mobbing a female Levant Sparrowhawk just over our heads a dark Eleonora’s Falcon, Ravens, two Lesser Kestrels, four Common Buzzards, four Short-toed Eagles and two Honey Buzzards including one female that actually appeared below us giving a rarely seen perspective.

Short-toed Eagle - Jim Willett

the view down to Kalloni and the KSP beyond

We had been talking about the fact that since the Greeks re-occupied the island and pushed back the Turks there were no signs of its Islamic past and then there below us in Filia, Liam spied a tower with a door near the top (that I had somehow never noticed before) and sure enough we soon discovered that it was indeed one of the very few remaining Ottoman-era landmarks most having been torn down post-1929. Part of a preserved former mosque, the minaret survives intact—though without its original roof—and stands as a protected historical monument. Well, there you go. Apparently there is still one in use in Parakila.

The Ottoman minaret in Filia

After dropping some of the crew back at the Pela we headed back out and had a look around Potamia which gave us some Bee-eaters and little else so we stopped on the way back to check both the Christou and Kamares. To the north of the road I quickly found a terribly hazy, shimmery, wobbly, distant and generally rubbish Stone-Curlew and to the south there were two Grey Plovers, four Kentish Plovers and three Gull-billed Terns.

Holy Orchid - Anacamptis sancta

Dinner beckoned.

1^st May:

The day got off to a grand start with a River Warbler staccato singing as I went into the bakers to get the lunch provisions and all too soon we were off again and westward bound passing 18 Gull-billed Terns on the Kamares on the way out.

I may have misjudged the weather and it was considerably cooler than my legs had been led to believe. Faneromeni was also far windier than anticipated but despite the general uncomfortableness we actually did quite well with over 40 Turtle Doves around the sheep troughs and a swarm of at least 100 Bee-eaters trying to battle their way north. We counted ten Red-backed, four Masked and eight Woodchats and saw a couple of Spot Flys, Blackcaps and flashing Golden Orioles.

Masked Shrike

There were hundreds of Yelkouan Shearwaters offshore again and Rock Doves, Alpine Swifts and single Eleonora’s and male Red-footed Falcon. Down on the beach a female Eastern Black-eared Wheatear came in off the sea and landed at our feet and began to look for insects.

I decided to abandon our efforts and headed back out, stopping at the Sigri oak grove on the way for a Roller that was perched up on the wires along with a few Bee-eaters. We could not find the Great Spotted Cuckoo but I the lee of the grove the fenceline held several Red-backed Shrikes and at least nine Golden Orioles that as is often the case here actually showed very well indeed and I suspect it was a trip highlight for many of the crew.

Golden Orioles

Golden Oriole

Essence of Roller

Persian Squirrel

Red-backed Shrikes

Up to Ipsilou where a Wood Warbler and Ravens were seen and some of the gang had a walk around the Monastery before we moved on again. Two Red Foxes were seen on the next bit of the journey before we stopped again at Perivolis Monastery. It was more sheltered here and we got excellent views of what I affectionally call Medium-tailed Tits which look so different to our own. A swirl of Crag Martins were drifting in and out and the Groves and Planes held Spot Flys and tantalising Middle Spotted Woodpeckers. Cretzschmar’s, Cinereous and Cirl Buntings were up the slope and the skies above gave us a pale phase Booted Eagle, Short-toed Eagles and both Common and Long-legged Buzzards.

Ipsilou - at least we were below the cloud!

And yes, the Perivolis cats were all present and correct and doing well

Downy Lupin - Lupinus pilosus

Back over the top to town and then straight through to the Tsiknias where three perfect Spur-winged Lapwings were quickly found on arrival. They always look like they have been created out of immaculately carved slices of black, white and warm sandy brown.

Spur-winged Lapwings - not seen three together before

We drove past the Lesser Flamingo who had moved to the KSP, on the way round to the round at the Alykes Wetlands the Black Storks were very active and a Cattle Egret dropped in but out of sight. Five male and a female Red-footed Falcon used the wind and hovered out over Loutzaria but I still could not find either the Montagu’s or reported Pallid Harrier. Swallows and Martins were hawking low.

Lesser Flamingo and his buddy

Amongst the familiar waders were at least five Curlew Sandpipers and the Spotted Redshank called once again and was briefly seen while on the Pans behind us the newly moved Lesser Flamingo glowed in his various shades of vibrant pink and red and 25 Grey Plovers were on one of the distant pans where the Terns were roosting. The Barn Owl flew through the Pela garden screaming late that evening. It was too cold to eat outside and Thekla and Dion managed to squeeze us all inside for dinner!

2^nd May:

I was just getting myself ready when a message came through – ‘Mediterranean Monk Seal just off beach opposite Kalloni Bay Hotel’!! I frantically sent the crew a pre-7am message and legged it down the road where within a couple of minutes I had joined a small crowd watch this rarest of the pinnipeds. It has only taken my 16 years to see one here and many other people have waited far longer than I!

This immature animal fed happily just offshore and was seen catching fish and Cuttlefish with ease. It was such a privilege to see one at last. But it could not go on the group list unless one of the others came down and I was very pleased to see James on his way down. I think the whole group got down there during the course of breakfast and we even harried Thekla into abandoning waiting on us and to go down and have a look as she too may not get another chance!

Mediterranean Monk Seal - Jim Willett

Mediterranean Monk Seal - Jim Willett

There were many Swallows hunkered down on the beach and House Martins on the wires and the 18 Gull-billed Terns headed along the coast and back to the Kamares. On the way out we stopped at the hidden pool behind the Pasiphae where two Little Bitterns were seen along with an astonishing 47 Night Herons – not that you could see that many roosting and it was not until someone came at the pool from the other side that the whole group panicked and took to the wing before slowly deciding that they needed some more shut eye and dropped back in again.

House Martins - Jim Willett

House Martin - Jim Willett

Barn Swallow - Jim Willett

Little Bittern

Night Herons

Our day properly began around at the Eastern KSP for a pleasant walk down – it even warmed up a little. I was hoping to add a few species to the trip list and it did not disappoint with three Slender-billed Gull picking flies from the surface while swimming while the 11 Little Gulls did so from the air.

Down at the far end we found five Dalmatian Pelicans which gave much better views than we had previously had and a drake Shoveler was a good find (we never did see a Mallard). Little and Common Terns fed alongside us in the channel and Black Storks were mooching around. There were however, no waders which was a little strange. Red-throated Pipits and Zitting Cisticolas were in the sedge beds and two Pallid and two Alpine Swifts were noted with a close passage of Commons as we walked back.

Little Tern

Common Tern

Dalmatian Pelicans and Greater Flamingos

Three Marsh Harriers quartered and there were several local Buzzards and two pairs of Short-toed Eagles but two circling raptors rang alarm bells and I was very happy that both were Steppe Buzzards and we watched them circle to mere dots in the sky above.

Kerami was very quiet bar 26 Glossy Ibis as we drove round to the Turtle Bridge. The Kruper’s Nuthatches here may have lost their best to the House Sparrows but they were still around and we got excellent views as they came down to drink from the edge of the stream – tooting all the while. Serins jangled and Eastern Olies showed well again before we moved on and a pair of Masked Shrikes were in a tiny little bush.

Stripe-necked Terrapin

Yellow-eared Slider

Red-eared Slider

Kruper’s Nuthatch - Jim Willett

The olive groves of Skala Vasilkon were our destination in the hope of encountering Olive Tree Warblers. All told we found seven singing birds and with a little patience the counter singing birds prompted each other into the open and the views we had of one in particular were nothing short of astonishing. I doubt very much that I will ever see one better. Cue more smiles!

Allium rotundum

Cretan Rock Rose - Cistus creticus

Pasture Goatsbeard - Geropogon hybridus

The groves also hosted several Middle Spotted Woodpeckers and the other usual assortment of warblers, shrikes and buntings. The bay itself was quiet but a fine breeding plumage Black-necked Grebe was seen in both directions.

We ended our last full day down at the Alykes Wetland once again where the Ibis flock was now at 30 amongst the other species and the huge Ruff flock now had at least 50 Curlew Sandpipers with them. Two Spur-winged Plovers were popping in and out of the grassy margins and there were now two Whiskered Terns with the White-winged Blacks. A Dalmatian Pelican even dropped it so the feeding must have been excellent!

Chequered Scorpion crossing the road

Dalmatian Pelican

The day ended in the Potamia where the local Bee-eaters were wondering what to do about the light but cold rain and along the river we found more Black-headed and Cirl Buntings and a quietly singing Marsh Warbler before we returned for a final group meal before home day.

Bee-eater

3^rd May:

It were a grim start to the final day with a cold rain and gusty wind. There were hundreds of hirundines around the village and the cold of the last couple of days was taking its toll. We packed the van and said our goodbyes and made our way towards Mytilene but of course I diverted to Charmida to at least give the crew the chance of a Ruppell’s Warbler. The last bit of the drive revealed the extent of the unfolding hirundine problem. Little lumps in the road resolved into shuffling shapes and the drive became a slow passage to allow them to move out of the way. There was nothing to be done except to pray for the weather to turn and allow these starving, damp migrants to resume feeding. Most were Barn and Red-rumped Swallows but there was the odd Sand Martin too but the hundreds of House Martins were jamming themselves onto balconies and ac units as they sought warmth and safety in elevation and numbers.

Down at Charmida we had the merest glimpse of a Ruppell’s Warbler but good views of Sardinian and Eastern Subalpines and singing Eastern Orphean and Cretzschmar’s Buntings. The visibility was so poor than none of the islands were even visible off shore.

Cretzschmar’s Bunting

All too soon I had to drop the group off at the airport and await the subsequent arrival of my wife and parents. It had been a superb week and we had seen almost all of the major targets in conditions that were somewhat challenging at times. I was sure that Lesvos had inveigled itself into the minds of all these island virgins. I would like to think that they would all be back for second helpings.

I gave back the van and walked round to to see Alison and Costas to have a catch up and pick up the car for week two and to wait for Andrea and my parents to touch down.

NB: This is my list and has four extra to the official group total

Blue Eyed Birder

Monday, 1 June 2026

Lesvos for Oriole Birding 26th April - 3rd May 2026

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